Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) announced on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 that the government had approved a proposal to absorb its subsidiary Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals (BRPL).
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will issue four shares for every 37 shares in BRPL, it said in a statement.

Switzerland: Novartis International AG announced today a tender offer to acquire an additional stake of up to approximately 39% in its majority-owned Indian subsidiary, Novartis India Ltd., from public shareholders at a price of Rs 351 per share.
Successful completion of this offer (assuming full acceptance) would raise the stake of Novartis in its Indian Subsidiary to nearly 90% from the current level of 50.9%. The offer represents a total value of up to Rs 4.4 billion (or approximately USD 87 million).
A public announcement is being published in India as required by law. The offer for these shares, which are traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is expected to open in May 2009 and is subject to regulatory approvals.
The offer by Novartis AG, a Group subsidiary, has been made at a premium of 27% to

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) announced a reduction in Retail prime lending rate by 50 basis points (bps) from Wednesday, March 25, 2009.
This is the second time in last three month since December 2008, when HDFC has reduced its RPLR. With this reduction, the RPLR has been brought down by 100 bps since December.
"We have been able to bring down our costs due to improved operational efficiency and good quality portfolio," Joint Managing Director Renu Sud Karnad said in a statement.
"We are now seeing a reduction in the costs on a portfolio level and as in the past HDFC has ensured that the reduction in costs is passed on to existing customers by way of a reduction in retail prime lending rate," she said.

IPL will be held in South Africa instead of England, today Lalit Modi announced. After Indian government decision, South Africa took this series from England mainly because of the fact that rain is inevitable in England during April and May and that South Africa's weather is at its most predictable during that time.
There are two even more important factors which Modi must consider: cost and logistical "ease". The price of television and transport, not to mention accommodation and security, are less than half what they would be for the tournament to be held in England. Also Govt. of South Africa is ready to provide all the facility which makes easy for Modi to choose the venue.

A United Nations spokesperson on Monday said none of the UN bodies globally will outsource any information technology work to India’s Satyam Computer Services. It was shocking news for the Satyam as after World Bank UN is second international agency that denies any dealing with Satyam.
The share of Satyam closed down by 2% quoting around 41.50.
“All throughout the UN system we had taken the decision not to have further dealings with Satyam. So the current deals that had been previously made are all being wrapped up,” Farhan Haq, associate spokesperson for the secretary general’s office said during a press briefing on Monday.
A transcript of the briefing has been made available at the UN’s website.
“The details of that may need some fine-tuning; it may need to be worked out in the comin

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that India's economy will revive in a big way in six to seven months as stimulus packages start to take effect.
"I am confident because of the stimulus that our government has announced, we will see in 6 to 7 months revival of the economy in a very big way," Singh said after the release of his party's election manifesto.
He also said inflation rate has declined because of a fall in energy and food prices.